Major skidding - blame the blades or blame me?

[Query]

If it is the problem, skating technique can be addressed by a coach.

May I suggest that next time you ask your sharpener to make the blade extra sharp? It's not just ROH - it's also what they do with the sharpener burrs.

if you aren't careful with the edges - e.g., you walk on the floor off-ice, or you do hard stops - you can re-bend those edges horizontal, which would make you skid. To diagnose: being careful not to cut yourself, turn your skates upside down and run your finger very lightly along the top, outside and inside of each of the edges. Does it feel sharp to the inside or outside of where the edge should be - or is it only sharp on top (which would be the bottom in normal skate orientation), the way it should be? If so, you can bend the edge back into vertical orientation, and you should stop skidding.

But please don't cut yourself.

[jjane45]

Thanks Query  

I haven't been able to get a lesson but it's finally coming up next week with dance coach. If something is wrong technique-wise hopefully he'll catch it.

Since the last sharpening I've been careful to wear guards off ice most of the time, will communicate with the sharpener again after the lesson...

[Query]

Do you do skidded double jumps? One sharpener I know sometimes deliberately dulls the part of the outside edge that you jump off of, to make that skid easier. (Needless to say, I'm in no danger whatsoever of doing skidded doubles!) A trade-off, based on the assumption that you earn more points on a clean jump than you lose on slightly skidded edges. Maybe your sharpener does too? It's not common - but it's not a unique idea either, because many hockey sharpeners sometimes do something similar.

[jjane45]

No double jumps for me, Query   I never requested anything special for my blades, I am sure he just uses his standard sharpness. Will check on technique this time and then go back to pro shop.